Reply to Do you have an ADHD or aspergers child in a mainstream private?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It really pains me that privates in this area are so prejudiced against kids with ASDs.  I don't think the same thing is true in other areas of the country. For example I'm sure in college towns that if you exclude kids who appeared to be Aspergers or had diagnoses already you would miss some brilliant children of math and physics professors!  [/quote]

It pains me, too, and I hope that if any of those school officials read these boards that they will take some of these criticisms to heart. The vibe that is sometimes given off is a blend of a) ignorance, b) callousness and c) laziness, as in they are not interested in any kids who might require some flexibility with respect to teaching methods, even if the kids' upside is high and the modest investment suggests a big payoff in terms of having a stellar long-term performer.

We went through this many years ago; we did not have a diagnosis but had enrolled DC in a special ed school for pre-K through 1st grade to help with some social thinking challenges that had come up in early childhood. DC did great on tests, extremely high on achievement scores, and was a teacher favorite not only in the school classroom and extracurriculars.  But various admissions officers still discouraged us from applying and others rejected the application without even giving it a serious look over, based solely on the perception that DC might be somewhere on the spectrum and the schools clearly didn't want to consider dealing with any potential ramifications of that.

The story had a happy ending -- it only took one open-minded school for that to occur, and we found it.  DC went on to become a popular straight-A student, no doubt in part because DC's academic prowess was bolstered by additional work early in life on social thinking.  The only accommodations DC required at the new school was the occasional teacher who realized DC was moving so far ahead of the class that DC's curriculum needed to be accelerated.  But for a while earlier on in life we feared we had branded DC with a scarlet letter.

Schools will say they are open to different types of kids as long as they can handle the academic workload and contribute positively in the classroom -- but there is a huge gap between the schools that walk the walk on this, and those that only talk the talk and want the kids who are easiest.  It probably stems from many schools having the luxury of choice -- if they have a surplus of strong applicants, they rationalize accepting the ones that require the least of the school, rather than the ones who have the biggest potential upside.  [/quote]

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